Abby Powell is a native of Northeastern Massachusetts who splits her time between commuting into Boston for work and caring for and riding her rescue Mustang x Arab mare, Maggie.
Have you ever wondered why course designers put an unjumpable object like a bush or a gate right in the middle of a line to the jump? Well, as FEI course designer and builder Alain Ponsot explains, it’s because that’s not the line to the jump that they want you to use!
‘Non-jumpable’ or ‘unjumpable’ elements are not used by course designers simply to frustrate riders or throw them off. They’re actually used to help the rider ride the line to the fence in the way that the course designer has intended. You can think of them as little hints or cheat sheets, if you will — they’re guiding the rider on how to answer the question that the course designer is asking.
In this video, the last in a series of cross country videos safety videos produced by Tiggy’s Trust, Irish Olympian Sam Watson sits down with Alain to talk all about the various purposes of unjumpable elements on a cross country course, including how they can affect the type of MIM clip used on a fence.
You can watch all of the videos in the Tiggy’s Trust ‘Cross Country at it’s Best’ series right here on YouTube.
Meanwhile during Defender Kentucky weekend, there was one other international event running: Ireland’s Ballindenisk International 1. The feature class, the NutriScience CCI4*L, was won by British 24-year-old StormStraker with Fever Pitch. Also riding in this division was what could very well be this year’s Japanese Olympic team in Ryuzo Kitajima (who finished second), Yoshiaki Oiwa, and Kazuma Tomoto. Plus, Great Britain’s Mollie Summerland and new-to-the-level Flow 7 rounded out the podium.
Eventers aren’t the only ones who obsess about footing. Not by a long shot (I know a couple footing snobs from an assortment of other disciplines, in fact) but you can add Thoroughbred horse racers to the list, too. In fact, there’s a whole lab in Kentucky called the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, a non-profit company, dedicated to keeping racetrack surfaces consistent and making them safer for horses. They’re in the process of establishing federal standards for racetrack safety. As they test surfaces they also collect a boatload of data which have helped to inform researchers about how track surfaces affect Thoroughbred bone health and longevity.
We all make a lot of joke about dressage being, ugh, the worst. But in the next breath anyone who’s worth their salt as an event rider will also sing it’s praises and knows exactly how it all plays into the fun jumping phases. That said, you don’t aways have to be practicing your twenty meter circles inside the sandbox — you should be working on your flatwork out in the field too. That’s called … you guessed it … fieldwork. Here’s a guide on fieldwork from Olympian Phyllis Dawson to get you started.
HorseHubby.com is back with a refreshed website and Mr. Horse Hubby himself, Timothy Harfield, husband of five-star eventer Elisa Wallace, has published a helpful blog post to guide future horse hubbies on how to survive their first horse show. Send this to your new beau.
Sponsor Corner: Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent tackled the Defender Kentucky Three Day Event and came out on top. Read all the details in this report sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products.
Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Watch This: While Doug Payne ultimately withdrew Quantum Leap from the holding box at the second horse inspection, we can still re-live their ride across country from Doug’s point of view! Check out his helmet cam recapping the big complexes on this year’s Defender Kentucky cross country course:
Today’s the day, the one we wait for all year! It’s the best day of the Best Weekend All Year: cross country day at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. As always, I like to wish everyone speedy and safe rides. May you attack the course with the gusto of Chris Hemsworth’s daughter and her tiny pony.
If you’ve got some time before you sign on to watch the live stream, grab your morning brew and give the post-dressage EquiRatings Eventing Podcast a listen, where EquiRating’s Diarm Byrne and our own Sally Spickard breakdown the dressage performances in both divisions and then discuss what we can expect during today’s cross country test.
Get all the links you need to keep tabs on the Kentucky action today right here below and stay tuned for much, much more today! Cross country actions begins at 9:00am ET with the CCI4*-S and then the CCI5* takes the stage at 1:30pm.
Sponsor Corner: Sharon White & Jaguar Duendes look amazing in their Vespucci bridle from World Equestrian Brands! Did you see Sharon compete in the 5* at the Kentucky Horse Park this weekend? Shop for a Vespucci bridle of your own here or at booth #109 if you’re in attendance at Kentucky!
Morning Viewing: In case you missed it, here’s Tom McEwan and DL Dublin’s leading five-star test. And yes, you can hear the bird of prey and the commotion it caused right in the middle of the canter work! If you don’t know what Im talking about, make sure you catch up on yesterday’s 5* dressage report.
Screenshot via Ema Klugman’s brother and personal hype-man, Josh.
Ema Klugman had a nice day in the office yesterday. She rode two horses at Fair Hill: Bronte Beach, who is headed to Kentucky next week practiced the five-star dressage test, while Chiraz put down a very competitive first phase score in the Intermediate division. AND Ema, who is a law student in addition to being a busy upper-level event rider and also contributor for EN, passed the Virginia Bar Exam! Congratulations, Ema! We still don’t know how you do it all!
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Morning Viewing: The more you know … about brush. (I swear, this is actuallyr really interesting!)
I started following North Carolina-based artist Larissa Ann on Instagram a few years ago after seeing that she was the artist in residence at Carolina International. Frankly, I thought it was seriously cool for an event to have an artist in residence and very much enjoyed watching Larissa’s progress on her live painting over the weekend.
One of Larissa’s specialties is painting saddles — she just did one for the Equestrians in Paris gala last month to raise funds for the USET Foundation — and her next will be painted live over the weekend at Kentucky. You can find her in the Stübben tent!
I was the kind of kid in school who really enjoyed art class and worked hard at it for a while, but truly just did not have the innate talent for it. So I mega-respect those that do and I love getting my hands on local artists work when I’m able! Her most recent piece to really catch my eye is this 5 Star Eventing tapestry/ blanket, which goes on sale Tuesday. I might have to snag one for myself!
Sponsor Corner: World Equestrian Brands’ Sponsored Rider Allison Springer put in a strong performance in the Stable View Intermediate division last weekend, coming in in third place with a 28.0. Allison trusts her Amerigo saddles with her horses’ health and performance. Shop now!
It seems like the venue for this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, France is one of the most hotly anticipated given its location at the iconic Palace of Versailles. Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how the facilities, which will host all Equestrian disciplines and the Modern Pentathlon, will intertwine with the iconic grounds.
About that construction — it’s well and truly underway! This video from the Associated Press gives us a peek at the current progress of the main arena and grandstands, which will ultimately be able to seat 16,000 spectators, and offers a few soundbites from the Versailles Venue Director for the Paris 2024 organizing committee, Anne Murac, along with Christophe Leribault, the President of the Palace of Versailles Estate.
The top equine athletes around the world aren’t the only horses getting ready for the Olympics. Did you notice in the video above how shiny horses and humans of the Fountain of Apollo are now? They were looking a little brown before, but ahead of the Olympics have undergone a two-year restoration process to polish up the gilded lead statues as well as shore up the plumbing underneath. You can check out a video of the restoration process and a few additional glimpses here.
Can you imagine cross country day when there will be horses galloping across the canal in the background? Quel rêve!
Eleven months ago at Kentucky she made a real splash in her first five-star and this year Boyd Martin’s former mount, the super mare Contessa, has a new jockey in the irons! Tori Miller of Paragon Eventing welcomed the mare to her string a few months ago thanks to new owner Tom Aronson. Tori and Contessa made their debut together in the Open Training at Morven Park last weekend. Here’s wishing them all the best as they develop their new partnership!
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Sponsor Corner: Big news from World Equestrian Brands! The Equilibrium boots are back and better than ever. These boots are everything your horse needs to succeed on cross country–
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Morning Viewing: Jon Holling and Rick Wallace talk to Tik Maynard and Sinead Halpin about their recent Road to the Horse win and pans for the rest of the year.
After suffering an injury at Pau last year and retiring from the highest levels of competition, Phillip Dutton sent his Tokyo Olympic mount, Z, to Furlong’s Soundness Center to begin his treatment and rehabilitation. Z has resided there for the past three months or so and has been a model patient. Now it’s time for him to come home!
Phillip and Evie Dutton recently took a trip up to Oldwick, New Jersey to pick up their boy and bring him back to their farm in Pennsylvania for the next stage of his rehab. Before loading him up, Dr. Brendan Furlong and Dr. Aja Harvey gave them a tour of the facilities and showed them what Z had been up to.
After such a heart wrenching injury, it’s wonderful to see Z looking happy and healthy and exciting to hear that he’s been doing so well — it sounds like Phillip is hopeful that he’ll be able to eventually have a lower-level career and I envy the young rider who may eventually get to pilot his around a course! Here’s wishing Z continued health and happiness in the next stage of his rehab!
You can really trust The Event at TerraNova to bring the fun. They seem to have a penchant for some really creative relay races (I remember Karl Slezak running one last year in an inflatable unicorn costume) and they’ll be hosting an Easter Egg Hunt this morning at 9am in Tiny Town — don’t let your kiddos be late!
Of course, that’s not the only action happening at TerraNova today — it’s cross country day for the Advanced, Intermediate, and FEI levels! Action starts at 8:30 AM with the CCI2*-S. The CCI4*-S, which is being led by Alyssa Phillips and Oskar after two phases, begins at 11:32 AM. A free live stream is available, just use the link below.
And speaking of four-stars, over on the west coast a certain Tamie Smith and Mai Baum took the win in that division at Galway Downs by over 10 points! Plus, it was actually SUNNY across the pond at Thoresby dressage yesterday! What a glorious weekend for spring eventing.
Sponsor Corner:World Equestrian Brands‘ sponsored Rider Allie Knowles had a podium finish with Leo Santos in the Advanced division at Carolina International! Check them out here.
Morning Viewing: Finally, a little eventing love on the US Equestrian YouTube Channel. They’ve dropped Tamie Smith and Mai Baum’s full Kentucky cross country run from last year!
There’s all kinds of action happening this weekend that you should be following! First of all, in case you haven’t heard, Tik Maynard is competing in The Road to the Horse Colt-Starting Challenge this weekend as just the second English-discipline rider ever to be selected for this competition. And he’s making us VERY proud! Tik earned the highest score during round one yesterday (which came with a nice little chunk of change!) Check out this clip of some of his work with his colt Capera Catt and follow along on @goeventing for a little behind the scenes action as Gillian Warner, who is there this weekend, takes over the EN ‘gram!
As for FEI action this weekend, Tilly Berendt is on the ground in the Netherlands at Kronenberg, where a number of elite riders and their horses are stretching their legs in their first CCI4*-L of the season as they begin their Olympic campaigns. After dressage, Tim Price and Falco are leading the way with an enviable score of 23.6, a decent margin ahead of second placed pair Susannah Berry and Wellfields Lincoln. You can catch the livestream via ClipMyHorse.TV!
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Is there ever a bad time to work on your horse’s footwork? Given it’s importance for all three phases of eventing, I think probably not! Granted, you don’t need oodles of ground poles to work on some useful exercises but footwork grids like the one in this video sure do make for some fun spectacles.
British equestrian Katie Lewis recently attended a clinic at Fancy Footwork Equestrian and was met with this massive grid that was ultimately fun and useful for both her and her horse. If you need some ground pole inspiration, watching this video should help!
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As Cheg mentioned on Thursday, the FEI Eventing Nations Cup series has officially kicked off in Montelibretti, Italy this weekend! The CCIO4* Nations Cup class has a whopping 43 entries and as things stand after dressage, home team Italy leads the charge after claiming four of the top seven places. Topping the leaderboard is Italy’s own Evelina Bertoli aboard her own Fidjy des Melezes with the only sub-30 score of the division.
Montelibretti is also hosting a CCI4*-L alongside this weekend’s Nations Cup and that division is currently being led by Thailand’s Korntawat Samran and the very aptly named for this Olympic year, Chateau de Versailes M2S.
Cross country for these four-star divisions takes place today! Keep up with all the action around the world, from Montelibretti to Carolina, with our handy links below!
And DON’T FORGET to nominate a resilient rider (or yourself!) competing at Carolina for the Ride EquiSafe Crappiest Weekend Award!
Sponsor Corner: Spring season is nearly in full swing! Are you prepared for the 2024 competition season? If not, World Equestrian Brands has your back with this comprehensive list of everything you need to succeed this season.
Morning Viewing: Jessica Phoenix’s very special partner Pavarotti made the trip down to Florida this year to train a very special little rider: Jessica’s daughter Jordan!
Jennarose Ortmeyer, her supermare Primrose, and their trusty helmet cam are back in action for the 2024 season! This past weekend they, along with 20 other competitors, contested the CCI2*-S at Bouckaert International. Adding just a smidge of cross country time plus a stadium rail to their dressage score saw them earn a top 10 finish in their first FEI event of the season – off to a good start! Join them as they tackle the beautiful Bouckaert cross country course in the video above!
Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. International (Fairburn, GA) [Website][Results]
The FEI season is officially underway here in the U.S. with the Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. International kicking things off in Fairburn, Georgia. Weather scares and flooding on the cross country course as late as Thursday probably triggered a little PTSD from last season for many competitors, but all is well and the Advanced, Intermediate, and FEI divisions all did their dressage and cross country tests yesterday.
As usual this early in the season competitors took things slow across country, all gathering handfuls of time penalties, but it will still be fun to see how things shake out during today’s showjumping. There’s a tight race for top of the 4*-S division for example, with Hannah Sue Hollberg and Capitol HIM leading on a score of 43.3 and Phillip Dutton with his new ride Jewelent nipping at their heels just 0.3 penalties points behind. Use the handy links below to follow along with the event yourself and stay tuned for a full final report early next week!
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Morning Viewing: Selena O’Hanlon and MS Thunderbolt won the Advanced dressage at Bouckaert Farm yesterday (but unfortunately retired on cross country.) Check out their lovely test!
One thing that’s super attractive to me about Ocala in the winter (besides the weather, of course) is that it seems to have really grown to be clinic-central over the colder months. And with a venue like Barnstable South to host, what’s not to love?
William Fox-Pitt was in town again at the end of February for the third year in a row for his now-annual clinic. Canada’s Selena O’Hanlon was lucky enough to participate with MS Thunderbolt, and gracious enough to upload her sessions to YouTube. Watch their show jumping above and their cross country session (harder to heard) below:
Usually at a highlight event that I’ve never been to before I’d wax poetic about how I wish I were there, but you know what? I think I’m okay with being home at the moment (sorry Sally and Shelby!) Of course I’d love to be there for the cross country action today especially, but dang, am I happy to have been able to stay dry yesterday. Like we always say: eventers are a tough bunch. You better believe that includes the eventing media! And let me tell you, trying to keep you camera equipment dry is no joke!
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Sometimes we spot a horse on an Advanced results list and think ‘Whoa, where did that horse come from?’ — making it seem like a top horse suddenly comes out of nowhere. In a passing glance at a results sheet, it can be tempting to view these horses like an overnight success story and forget that, like in most sports, it takes years and years of training and partnership building to make it to the top.
So when we see Gold Czar with Boyd Martin on an Advanced start list in a handful of years, let’s not forget that this is where it all started: out and about at Sporting Days Farm a couple weekends ago tackling his first recognized Beginner Novice.
Gold Czar (Medaglia d’Oro – Pleasant Review, by Pleasant Trap) a.k.a. “Remi” is 6-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred who last raced in February 2022. Remi caught Boyd’s eye while he was teaching the Cheshire Fox Hunt Adult Camp last year and he purchased the horse from the field master, who had taken him off the track about a year ago and given him a good restart with about a year of rest, hacking, and some basic flatwork.
Boyd has been chronicling his work with the youngster on Facebook and you can listen to him further introduce Remi here and watch as Boyd introduces him to his new career step-by-stephere. Will young Remi make it to the top of his new sport one day? We look forward to following along!
Alison Eastman-Lawler added a little twist to her most recent schooling show at Apple Tree Farm South in Windsor, South Carolina by hosting a ‘Bald is Beautiful Beauty Pageant’ to raise support for Locks of Love, a nationwide non-profit that provides real hair wigs to children suffering hair loss as a result of a medical condition.
The Bald is Beautiful Beauty Pageant saw three brave men — Ronan Maloney, Mike Pendleton, and Shawn Lawler — come forward as contestants to shave their head. A $10 donation to Locks of Love bought one vote to cast for the winner of the pageant, which ultimately raised an impressive $3,000!
And the winner was … the man who got his head WAXED: Ronan Moloney! If you fancy watching the painful chaos, you can do so right here. And it’s not too late to donate to the cause either!
Sponsor Corner: Check out Woodge Fulton and Cash Point strutting their stuff 👑
Woodge chooses Amerigo Saddles for her horses. “We love everything about our @amerigo_saddles_official saddles, from the way they fit the horses to how customizable they are. From piping colors to stitching colors, you can match your saddle to your personality.”
Fancy a good look at the Ram Tap XC course? You’re in luck, as usual East Coaster Emma Hinke seems to have stopped by the Fresno, California venue while out west this past weekend. She captured many pairs in the Advanced/Intermediate and Intermediate divisions tackling their cross country course.
You can catch a debrief of the action from this important West Coast prep event in EN’s new column, The Weekend Update.
We’re three whole days post-Valentine’s Day but there are still so many cute lovey Valentine’s horsey posts popping up on my feed. And you know what? I’m not mad about it! Keep ’em coming people!
I know we started your Monday with a rather unsavory view that’s probably been burned into your retinas all day, so allow me to make it up to you and close out your Monday with PONIES.
Last Monday we brought you a replay of the Devoucoux Indoor Derby at le Jumping International de Bordeaux in France. This week, it’s ‘Honey We’ve Shrunk the Horses’ with the tiniest little indoor cross country derby you’ve ever seen in the Derby Poneys by Devoucoux class.
Brighten your day and watch the full class above! There’s plenty of thrills, spills, spooks, and the teeniest little drop bank you’ve ever seen. Here are the final results.
To infinity and beyond! Or at least just to Wallaby Hill, which held quite a fun fancy dress class at their recent show jumping extravaganza. Of course while everyone is freeing cold or caked in mud here in the Northern Hemisphere, eventing season down under is in full swing. I don’t think I could pull off a Buzz Lightyear costume in the middle of summer though, like Shane Rose here is doing — I’d be sweating my space blaster off.
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It’s indoor season across Europe, and for restless eventers that means trying their hands and hooves at indoor eventing classes throughout the winter. This past weekend at le Jumping International de Bordeaux in France, seventeen competitors came forward to contest the Devoucoux Indoor Derby.
Of course with this being a home competition, the French were out in full force and some recognizable names such as Maxime Livio, Astier Nicolas, and Arthur Duffort gave the home crowd a thrill. A few international riders came to strut their stuff too — Michal Jung amongst them, perhaps most notably!
The video above is the full broadcast of the competition, so if you fancy watching the whole thing I don’t really want to spoil the ending for you but I will say that it comes down to the wire! If you want to jump ahead but make sure you catch the top two rides, I recommend skipping ahead to about 42:10. You can also check out the full results here.